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Class "B? 1 6 A 2. 

Book .T3 

Copyright^ , 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



SPIRITUALISM, 
Or SPIRITISM; 



and 



WHAT IT IS. 



BY ISAAC L. PEEBLES, 

Of the Mississippi Cojiference. 



Nashville, Tenn. ; Dallas, Tex. 

Publishing House of the M. E. Church, South. 

Barbee & Smith, Agents. 

1900. 






THE LIBRARY OF 
CONGRESS, 

Two Copies Receive© 

JUL. 27 1901 

Copyright entry 

CLASS CV XXa N». 

/ / FOf 
COPY 3. 



Copyright, iqgo, 

by 
Isaac L. Peebles. 



PREFACE. 

I have not only written this booklet in 
response to a request, but also with the hope 
of 'giving desired information on the subject 
of Spiritism ; and, too, of doing something 
toward stopping the progress and ending the 
existence of Spiritism ; and therefore, what- 
ever is accomplished in this direction by 
this booklet, I shall feel quite thankful to 
God, and feel that it has not been written 
for naught. 

I shall always feel grateful to Brother J. 
Lilly for requesting me to preach a sermon 
on Spiritism, and then also for requesting 
me to publish it. Isaac L. Peebles, 

(3) 



Spiritualism, or Spiritism. 

Spiritualism, or more properly Spir- 
itism, is becoming quite popular with 
many people, and quite puzzling to oth- 
ers. Some regard it seriously, while 
others esteem it lightly. It is the reli- 
gion of some, while others hardly know 
what to do or to say about it. Some 
believe it to be a skillfully arranged sys- 
tem of tricks, while others believe it to 
be divine. But let us, with the best 
lights we have, see what it really is, and 
in order to this let us first of all notice 
the subject of Spiritism negatively; then 
let us see what it really is. 
5 



Spiritism 

Is Not a System of Tricks* 

How any one with even only a very lim- 
ited knowledge of Spiritism can believe 
that it is a mere system of tricks is quite 
strange to us. It is true that some pre- 
tended spiritists have been discovered 
playing tricks, such as, first, claiming to 
read letters before they were unsealed 
and unfolded, but the envelopes of such 
letters have been found opened in the 
sides and sealed with gum arabic; sec- 
ondly, claiming to be able to read books 
while their heads were covered up with 
a thick blanket, but close investigation 
has revealed the use of phosphoric oil, 
by which any one could read with their 
head thus covered up; thirdly, claiming 
that mysterious talking was carried on 
6 



Is Not a System of Tricks, 

in different parts of the room, when in 
reality it was the voice of a ventriloquist 
being thrown about from place to place 
in the same, and on and on we might 
continue to a lengthy list of tricks played 
off on people even by persons claiming 
to be spiritists ; but nevertheless we can- 
not believe that Spiritism is a mere system 
of tricks, or a mere sleight of hand. It 
has amply proved itself to be more than 
this. Indeed, it has proved itself to be 
more than human in knowledge and 
power. People have attended the meet- 
ings of spiritists, not knowing any one 
present, being perfect strangers, and still 
spirits have told them their names, where 
they were born and educated, and also 
things in their lives that they thought 
none but God knew. Spiritism has 
made known things that had taken 



Spiritism. 

place and were taking place in differ- 
ent parts of the world at a time when 
there was no human means of knowing 
them. It has moved chairs, tables, 
etc., about without any contact what- 
ever with any visible agency. It has 
made musical instruments rise and move 
along the ceiling of houses and at the 
same time make music. It has lifted 
them into the air beyond the reach of 
any visible agency, and played upon 
them. It has lifted chairs and tables up 
and made them move about with people 
sitting on them. Daniel * Thqrne and 
other mediums have been lifted up and 
made to float around in the air. It has 
produced strange lights, snakes, and 
turned water to blood. It has produced 
the handwriting and even the voice of 
persons who were dead. It has pro- 

8 y ' 



Is Not a System of Tricks. 

duced the hands and even the whole 
bodies of the dead. In the Opera 
House in Boston, Mass., on the nth of 
April, 1897, people had their friends to 
appear to them from the dead and to 
shake their hands with a hearty grip. 
Many other things might be mentioned 
that Spiritism has and can do that are su- 
perhuman, but we think that these are 
sufficient to show that it is not a mere 
sleight of hand or a mere system of 
tricks. Besides these things, lawyers, 
judges, doctors, influential business men, 
and ministers of the gospel have become 
converts to Spiritism. Its adherents and 
sympathizers are estimated at ten mil- 
lions. In this country it has its church- 
es and camp meetings. Annual camp 
meetings are held at Lake Pleasant, 
Mass. ; Onset, Mass. ; Cassadaga, N. Y. ; 
9 



Spiritism. 

and at Lookout Mountain, Tenn. The 
annual attendance at Lake Pleasant, 
Mass., is estimated at from ten to fif- 
teen thousand. So from all these things 
we see that Spiritism is a reality, and, 
too, that any one who denies it argues 
his ignorance. It is not a mere system 
of tricks. 

10 



Spiritism 

Is not the Spirits of the Departed 
Communicating through Mediums* 

The spirits of those who once lived 
in this world do not communicate through 
certain persons denominated mediums 
with those who are still alive. This, 
I know, will seem strange and un- 
true to a spiritist, and also to one who 
has attended a seance (saons), or meet- 
ing of spiritists, but still we have unan- 
swerable proofs that we are right. Our 
proofs are scriptural. David, in speak- 
ing of his child, said: " But now he is 
dead, wherefore should I fast? can I 
bring him back again? I shall go to 
him, but he shall not return to me." (2 
Sam. xii. 23.) In this passage David 
ii 



Spiritism. 

clearly declares that a departed spirit 
does not and cannot come back to this 
world. Job, in speaking of death, said: 
"The eye of him that hath seen me 
shall see me no more : thine eyes are 
upon me, and I am not. As the cloud 
is consumed and vanisheth away; so he 
that goeth down to the grave shall come 
tip no more. He shall return no more 
to his house, neither shall his place 
know him any more." (J°b vii. 8— io.) 
We learn from these words that when 
any one leaves this world, or dies, he 
does not come back any more, neither 
is he allowed to return to his earthly 
house any more (oikon, accusative of 
otkos, meaning his family and his resi- 
dence.) So the belief that the spirits of 
the dead come back to their families, 
and especially to their houses and haunt 
12 



Is Not the Spirits of the Departed. 

them, is proven by those words to be 
false, and also they disprove the claim 
of Spiritism that it brings the spirits 
of the dead back to this world. Job 
again says of the dead: "His sons 
come to honor, and he knoweth it not; 
and they are brought low, but he per- 
ceiveth it not of them." (Job xiv. 21.) 
By these words we learn that a man dies 
and leaves his children in this world, and 
when they come to honor he does not 
know it, neither does he know when 
they go down to degradation and desti- 
tution. In speaking of the wicked, he 
says: "He shall fly away as a dream, 
and shall not be found: yea, he shall be 
chased away as a vision of the night. 
The eye also which saw him shall 
see him no more ; neither shall his 
place any more behold him." (Job 
x 3 



Spiritism. 

xx. 8, 9.) From these words we 
learn that the spiritist shall not be able 
to find the spirit of the wicked who is 
dead, and, too, however dissatisfied he 
may have been when he left the world, 
he cannot come back to attend to any- 
thing he may have left undone, neither 
can he come back at all. He is in eter- 
nity to stay until the day of general judg- 
ment. That the dead do not and can- 
not come back to this world, and, too, 
that they cannot communicate with the 
living here, is evident from the words 
of Jesus concerning the rich man and 
Lazarus. Our Lord declared that after 
the rich man and Lazarus had died the 
rich man lifted up his eyes in hell, be- 
ing in torments, and seeing Abraham 
afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom, he 
cried to Abraham to send Lazarus to 
H 



Is Not the Spirits of the Departed. 

cool his tongue ; but Abraham informed 
him that no one could pass from him 
to the rich man, and neither could any 
one pass from the rich man to him. The 
rich man, seeing that his request could 
not be granted, then begged Abraham 
to send Lazarus back to this world to 
warn his five brethren who were still 
living at his father's house; but Abra- 
ham reminded him that they had Mo- 
ses and the prophets, and added: "Let 
them hear them." But this did not 
satisfy him, and he declared that if 
one would go to them from the dead 
they would hear him. Then Abraham 
replied by saying: " If they hear not 
Moses and the prophets, neither will 
they be persuaded, though one rose from 
the dead." (Luke xvi. 31.) If the 
spirits of the dead were permitted to re- 
*5 



Spiritism. 

turn to this world and to communicate 
with the living, whether through me- 
diums or otherwise, is it not unmistaka- 
bly plain that the rich man would have 
gladly come and warned his five broth- 
ers? and if he could not come himself, 
and Lazarus could have come, and if it 
were right for Lazarus to come, do we 
all not know that Abraham, instead of 
answering him as he did, would have 
sent Lazarus at once? The plain doc- 
trine of our blessed Lord is, that the 
dead are not only not allowed to come 
back to this world, but they are not al- 
lowed to communicate with the living by 
any means or in any respect. It is true, 
it is recorded that "the graves were 
opened, and many bodies of the saints 
which slept arose, and came out of their 
graves after his resurrection, and went 
16 



Is Not tfie Spirits of tke Departed, 

into the holy city, and appeared unto 
many" (Matt, xxvii. 52. 53), but let us 
not forget that these were not spirits, 
but saints in their bodies who were res- 
urrected after Christ arose from the 
dead, not only in. proof of immortality, 
but also, and most especially, in proof 
of Christ's own resurrection from the 
dead. Such a thing, except the tempo- 
rary rising of Samuel in rebuke to the 
witch of Endor (1 Sam. xxviii. 11, 12), 
never happened before, and never will 
again, likely, until the general resurrec- 
tion in the last day of our race on the 
earth. Having seen that Spiritism is 
not a communion of the spirits of the 
dead who once lived in the world, 
through mediums or otherwise, with the 
living, let us now notice that Spiritism 
is not of God. 

2 17 



Spiritism 

Is Not of God. 

Spiritism is not of God, because it 
does not recognize him as he requires. 
It does not give to God, or rather it does 
not recognize God as that independent 
and controlling being that he is. Its 
tendency is not for that full reverence 
and awe that are due him as the true 
God. Indeed, it is censured with a de- 
nial of God, but we are willing to admit 
that this cannot be fully sustained, for 
any ism that denies the existence of 
God is worse than that of the devils 
themselves; for James says: "Thou 
believest that there is one God; thou 
doest well: the devils also believe, and 
tremble." (Jas. ii. 19.) That is, if 
any believes there is a God, he only be- 



Is Not of God. 

lieves what the devils do, for they be- 
lieve and tremble. The devils believe 
there is a God, and let us therefore con- 
cede that Spiritism does believe there is 
a God, too, but it does not submit to 
his control and rule as a subject, a crea- 
ture, or a child should. Spiritism is not 
of God, because it does not have that 
respect for the teachings of the Bible 
that it should. It does not search it as 
a divine record, and of course does not 
regulate its life by the same. It esteems 
itself as being capable of such teach- 
ings and of such deeds as it contains. 
Spiritism is not of God, because it re- 
jects God's plan of saving men, and 
has a plan of its own. God's plan is to 
preach his word contained in the Bible, 
and, as Paul expresses it: "It pleased 
God by the foolishness of preaching to 

*9 



Spiritism. 

save them that believe." (i Cor. i. 21.) 
And again: "For I am not ashamed of 
the gospel of Christ: for it is the pow- 
er of God unto salvation to every one 
that believeth." (Rom. i. 16.) We 
are to preach, and to preach the gospel 
of Christ ; but Spiritism has its own gos- 
pel, and ignores that of Christ in the 
salvation of men. Christ says, "Ex- 
cept a man be born again, he cannot see 
the kingdom of God" (John iii. 3); but 
Spiritism feels no need of such a change, 
and proposes to be saved by its own 
teachings. The declaration of God 
concerning Christ is, "Neither is there 
salvation in any other; for there is none 
other name under heaven given among 
men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 
iv. 12); but Spiritism proposes salvation 
in its own name, and, instead of preach- 
20 



Is Not of God. 

ing to men to believe on Christ, it leads 
them off from him by table-rappings, 
sight-seeings, and communications from 
spirits, etc. God has declared concern- 
ing men, " If they hear not Moses and 
the prophets, neither will they be per- 
suaded though one rose from the dead" 
(Luke xvi. 31); but Spiritism proposes 
to save by communications with the 
dead, and even by having them to ap- 
pear from death. From these things we 
can see very clearly that Spiritism is 
perfectly out of harmony with God, and 
therefore cannot be of God. 
21 



Spiritism 

Is the Work of the Devil. 

That Spiritism is the work of the dev- 
il is clear from the following reasons: 

i. We have seen that it is not of God, 
and that it is superhuman, and there- 
fore there is no other classification for 
it. It is not the work of God, and it 
does things that men cannot do. And, 
too, since its work is like that of Satan, 
it therefore cannot be otherwise than the 
work of Satan. 

2. It falsifies. We should not for- 
get that our Saviour said of the dev- 
il: " There is no truth in him. When 
he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his 
own; for he is a liar, and the father 
of it" (John viii. 44)? meaning that he 
is on the opposite side of truth, and 
22 



Is the Work of the Devih 

while he may say some things that are 
true, as when he said of Christ, "I 
know thee who thou art, the Holy One 
of God" (Mark i. 24), yet the truth is 
not a fixed principle in his heart, neither 
does it regulate his life in the least, and 
hence he not only has no truth in him, 
but he is the very impersonation of 
falsehood. Spiritism falsifies in this, 
that it claims to communicate with the 
dead, and also that it brings the dead 
back to this world again, in oppo- 
sition to the plain teachings of the Bi- 
ble that the dead not only do not come 
back to this world, but that they have 
no communications with it whatever, 
and therefore all communications and 
visible appearances of the dead by Spir- 
itism is of the devils. It is true, Saul 
applied to the witch of Endor for the 
2 3 



Spiritism. 

resurrection of Samuel that he might 
consult with him, and sure enough he 
came up from the grave, but not in re- 
sponse to the witch, but as a rebuke to" 
her in her black, art of Spiritism. That 
this was the case is evident from the 
following facts : (i) It is said: "And 
Saul had put away those that had famil- 
iar spirits, and the wizards, out of the 
land." (i Sam. xxviii. 3.) This was 
done because God required it, but the 
witch of Endor had escaped because 
she was not in the district in which 
these were slain. (2) The witch did 
not intend to bring up Samuel from the 
dead, even if she could have done so, 
for she was afraid of Samuel, because 
he hated witches and favored their 
death, and therefore her own life would 
be in danger should he be brought up 
24 



Is the Work of tke Devil. 

from the dead. That it was not her 
puppose to bring him up from the dead 
is clear from the following: "And when 
the woman saw Samuel, she cried with 
aloud voice: and the woman spake to 
Saul, saying, Why hast thou deceived 
me? for thou art Saul. And the king 
said unto her, Be not afraid: for what 
sawest thou? And the woman said 
unto Saul, I saw gods ascending out of 
the earth. And he said unto her, What 
form is he of? And she said, An old 
man cometh up ; and he is covered with 
a mantle. And Saul perceived that it 
was Samuel, and he stooped with his 
face to the ground, and bowed himself." 
(i Sam. xxviii. 12-14.) From this 
scripture we learn that it was not her 
purpose to bring Samuel up from the 
dead, because when he did rise she be- 
2 5 



Spiritism. 

came quite alarmed, and Saul said to 
her, "Be not afraid;" and, besides, she 
did not know him, and exclaimed, "I 
saw gods ascending out of the earth. 9 ' 
Likely the first sight she saw was that 
of angels, and then she said, "An old 
man covered up," which was Samuel, 
who followed whom she did not know. 
It was her purpose that her familiar 
spirit should rise up in the form of Sam- 
uel, but God thwarted her by making 
Samuel himself to rise, and she became 
greatly alarmed, and seems not to have 
felt any ease whatever, until Saul said 
to her, "Be not afraid," fearing it was 
a trick of Saul to have her killed, for as 
soon as she discovered that her familiar 
spirit had not responded, and what she 
really did not expect had happened, she 
said to Saul, "Why hast thou deceived 
26 



Is the Work of the Devil. 

me?" So it is clear from this case that 
Spiritism does not cause the dead them- 
selves to appear again in this world, but 
that devils or familiar spirits assume the 
form of the dead, and thus present 
themselves as the real dead when it is a 
real lie. And let it be remembered that 
the strange noises and appearances in 
what are known as haunted houses are 
nothing more nor less than the devils 
themselves. That there are strange 
noises and appearances in houses and 
elsewhere, ever and anon, we are con- 
strained to believe, for reliable and good 
people have heard and seen them. The 
Wesleys heard doors opening and per- 
sons walking in when nothing of the 
kind could be seen ; they heard knock- 
ings, the door latches moving up and 
down, walking up and down stairs, 
2 7 



Spiritism. 

every step seeming to shake the house 
from top to bottom; the rocking of a 
cradle, the sound as if a large iron ball 
were thrown among many bottles, the 
pouring out of silver, etc. Mr. John 
Wesley states that their large mastiff dog 
would become so scared as to tremble, 
and that on one occasion when the noises 
were great the dog ran and sheltered 
himself under his father and mother, 
who were standing together. The dis- 
turbances were so great at his father's 
house that the neighbors and clergy- 
men earnestly advised his father to leave 
it, but he said, "No; let the devil flee 
from me; I will never flee from the 
devil;" and afterwards these disturb- 
ances ceased. 

Many other such proofs we could 
give, but this we think is sufficient. 
28 



Is the Work of the Devil. 

Be it pertinent to say that such dis- 
turbances have been so great and an- 
noying in some residences that families 
could not live in them, and would move 
out. They have not only heard strange 
noises, but they have seen strange ap- 
pearances, and even shot at them with- 
out any apparent effect. The devils 
have appeared in the form of human 
hands, heads, the whole form, the form 
of dogs, horses, buggies, cradles, mills, 
light, etc., and even that of angels. 

3. Spiritism is the work of the devil, 
because its followers are not made truly 
pious. They do not in the least man- 
ifest the spirit of our blessed Lord. 
There is no real humility in their lives; 
indeed, it makes its devotees proud, 
self-conceited, and egotistical. Some 
become so blinded as to believe them- 
29 



Spiritism. 

selves to be the special favorites of Al- 
mighty God, when God is having noth- 
ing whatever to do with the kind of 
lives they are living. The thing of hav- 
ing frequent communications with the 
dead is quite exalting and inflating. 
3° 



Spiritism 

Is Denounced by God as the 
Work of the Devil. 

That it may appear clear that God 
does denounce Spiritism as the work 
of the devil, let us remember that God 
esteems all work that is not of him as 
the work of the devil. The doctrine 
of the Bible is that a person is either a 
child of God or a child of the devil, and 
that if he is a child of God he does the 
works of God; and if he is a child of 
the devil, he does the works of the devil. 
This appears quite clear to us from the 
following scriptures: "He that commit- 
teth sin is of the devil; for the devil 
sinneth from the beginning. For this 
purpose the Son of God was manifest- 
ed, that he might destroy the works of 
3 1 



Spiritism. 

the devil. Whosoever is born of God 
doth not commit sin; for his seed re- 
maineth in him: and he cannot sin, be- 
cause he is born of God. In this the 
children of God are manifest, and the 
children of the devil: whosoever doeth 
not righteousness is not of God, neither 
he that loveth not his brother." (i 
John iii. 8-10.) And our blessed Lord, 
in speaking to those who were not the 
children of God, said: " Ye are of your 
father the devil, and the lusts of your fa- 
ther ye will do." "He that is of God 
heareth God's words." (John viii. 44, 
47.) That we might not be deceived by 
Spiritism in any respect, God includes 
the various names that express it in its dif- 
erent forms in declaring himself against 
it. The following are the names of its 
different agents or its different forms: 
3 2 



Is Denounced by God. 

Charmer, consulter with familiar spir- 
its, diviner or divination, enchanter or 
enchantments, familiar spirits, necro- 
mancer, soothsaying, sorcery or sorcer- 
er, witch, w T izard, or witchcraft, and we 
might with great propriety add the so- 
called Christian science. That these 
various names do express its various 
agencies and its different forms is evi- 
dent from the Scriptures. While Paul 
and Silas were at Philippi, Luke says: 
"And it came to pass, as we went to 
prayer, a certain damsel possessed with 
a spirit of divination met us, which 
brought her masters much gain by sooth- 
saying: the same followed Paul and us, 
and cried, saying, These men are the 
servants of the most high God, which 
show unto us the way of salvation. 
And this did she many days. But Paul, 
3 33 



Spiritism. 

being grieved, turned and said to the 
spirit, I command thee in the name of 
Jesus Christ to come out of her. And 
he came out the same hour," (Acts 
xvi. 16-18.) This damsel likely could 
tell her master many things that were 
happening and had happened, and, be- 
sides, many other things, just like Spir- 
itism of to-day, and we notice, too, that 
soothsaying and divination are used for 
the same thing. In the city of Sama- 
ria, in the days of Philip, it is said: 
" There was a certain man, called Si- 
mon, which beforetime in the same city 
used sorcery, and bewitched the people 
of Samaria, giving out that himself was 
some great one ; to whom they all gave 
heed, from the least to the greatest, 
saying, This man is the great power of 
God." (Acts viii. 9, 10.) This spirit- 
34 



Is Denounced by God. 

ist could likely make snakes appear, 
and do many other things somewhat, if 
not exactly, like Spiritism in our times, 
but of him Peter declared: "I perceive 
that thou art in the gall of bitterness, 
and in the bond of iniquity." (Acts 
viii. 23.) Paul, in his Epistle to Timo- 
thy, said : "Avoid profane and vain 
babblings, and oppositions of science 
falsely so called." (1 Tim. vi. 20.) 
The science to. which Paul calls atten- 
tion is not worthy to be called science 
at all, although it claims to be a 
science. This evidently means Chris- 
tian science, for two reasons: 1. This 
science is not worthy of the name of 
science at all, and if there ever was a 
so-called science unworthy of the name, 
it surely is the so-called Christian 
science, which is a desultory, contra- 
35 



Spiritism. 

dictory, jungled mess. 2. The second 
reason why it applies to the so-called 
Christian science is, its opposition to 
God's Word and God's plans. It is an 
insidious form of Spiritism. But let us 
now notice God's declarations against 
other forms of Spiritism. " Regard not 
them that have familiar spirits, neither 
seek after wizards, to be defiled by them : 
I am the Lord your God." (Lev. xix. 
31.) "And the soul that turneth after 
such as have familiar spirits and after 
wizards to go a whoring after them, I 
will even set my face against that soul, 
and I will cut him off from among his 
people." (Lev. xx. 6.) "A man also 
or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or 
that is a wizard, shall surely be put to 
death." (Lev. xx. 27.) "Thou shalt 
not suffer a witch to live." (Ex. xxii. 

36 



Is Denounced by God. 

18.) St. Paul, in Galatians v. 20, class- 
es witchcraft with the works of the flesh, 
or as the work of those who are sin- 
ning against God, and then declares: 
"Of the which I tell you before, as I 
have also told you in time past, that 
they which do such things shall not in- 
herit the kingdom of God/' (Gal. v. 
21.) Paul said to a certain sorcerer: 
"O full of all subtilty and all mischief, 
thou child of the devil, thou enemy of 
all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to 
pervert the right ways of the Lord?" 
(Acts xiii. 10.) "There shall not be 
found among you any one that maketh 
his son or his daughter to pass through 
the fire, or that useth divination, or an 
observer of times, or an enchanter, or a 
witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with 
familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necro- 
37 



Spiritism. 

mancer. For all that do these things 
are an abomination unto the Lord." 
(Deut. xviii. 10-12.) Nov/ if Spiritism 
strives to hide itself behind strained in- 
terpretations of these scriptures, let it 
not forget that God includes those who 
are consulters with familiar spirits just 
such as Spiritism consults with. Let 
these strong words of God against Spir- 
itism constrain all to have nothing what- 
ever to do with Spiritism, remembering 
that it is the work of the devil or devils. 

33 



Spiritism 

Is Ancient as Well as Modern. 

It is believed that because Spiritism 
now bears the name of Spiritualism — a 
name that is modern — that Spiritism it- 
self is modern in its beginning also, but 
this is a great mistake. Neither does 
the present peculiar form in which it 
now exists make it modern in its origin, 
for we have already seen that God 
warned his people against it in other 
forms fifteen hundred years before 
Christ came into the world, and from 
all we can gather it existed even beyond 
that period, and, indeed, the manner in 
which God gave his warnings proves it 
to have existed before that period. The 
highest and most attractive form in which 
it existed all along the ages, and most es- 
39 



Spiritism. 

pecially in ancient times, was that of ora- 
cles. In Egypt, one of the most ancient 
of the prominent nations of the world, we 
find it flourishing in this form very ear- 
ly, and that this was a form of Spirit- 
ism in Egypt is clear from what God 
says of the Egyptians himself in the fol- 
lowing utterances: "And the spirit of 
Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof; and 
I will destroy the counsel thereof: and 
they shall seek to the idols, and to the 
charmers, and to them that have famil- 
iar spirits, and to the wizards. And 
the Egyptians will I give over into the 
hand of a cruel Lord." (Isa. xix. 3, 
4.) Herodotus, in writing about the 
Egyptians, said: "With respect to divi- 
nation, they held that it is a gift which 
no mortal possesses, but only certain of 
the gods; thus they have an oracle of 
40 



Is Ancient as Well as Modern. 

Hercules, one of Apollo, of Minerva, of 
Diana, of Mars, and of Jupiter. Be- 
sides these, there is the oracle of Lato- 
na at Buto, which is held in much higher 
repute than any of the rest. The mode 
of delivering the oracles is not uniform, 
but varies at the different shrines." 
(Herodotus, bk. 2; chap. 83.) And 
let us not forget that we have already 
learned in the Bible that divination is 
the work of evil spirits, as in the follow- 
ing: "A certain damsel possessed with 
a spirit of divination met us, which 
brought her masters much gain by sooth- 
saying;" and Paul said to this spirit she 
had, "I command thee in the name of 
Jesus Christ to come out of her. And 
he came out the same hour." (Acts 
xvi. 16-18.) According to all the rec- 
ords we can gather on Egypt, all its 
\ 4 1 



Spiritism. 

temples were so many oracles, but those 
we have mentioned were the most noted. 
Oracles were numerous in Greece, and 
it is recorded of Croesus, or Cresus, 
that he sent messengers to many of 
them to test their knowledge. "The 
messengers who were dispatched to 
make trial of the oracles were given the 
following instructions : they were to 
keep count of the days from the time of 
their leaving Sardis,and, reckoning from 
that date, on the hundredth day they 
were to consult the oracles, and to in- 
quire of them what Croesus, the son of 
Alyattes, king of Lydia, was doing at 
that moment. The answers given them 
were to be taken down in writing and 
brought back to him. None of the re- 
plies remain on record except that of 
the oracle of Delphi. These, the mo- 
42 



Is Ancient as Well as Modern. 

ment that the Lydians entered the sanc- 
tuary, and before they put their ques- 
tions, the Pythoness (the medium) thus 
answered them in hexameter verse : 

I can count the sands, and I can measure the 

ocean; 
I have ears for the silent, and know what the 

dumb man meaneth; 
Lo! on my sense there striketh the smell of a 

shell-covered tortoise, 
Boiling now on a fire, with the flesh of a lamb, in 

a caldron; 
Brass in the vessel below, and brass the cover 

above it. 

These words the Lydians wrote down 
at the mouth of the Pythoness (medium) 
as she prophesied, and then set off on 
their return to Sardis. When all the 
messengers had come back with the an- 
swers which they had received, Croe- 
sus (Cresus) undid the rolls, and read 
43 



Spiritist 



301, 



what was written in each. Only one 
approved itself to him, that of the Delphic 
oracle. This he had no sooner heard 
than he instantly made an act of adora- 
tion, and accepted it as true. For on 
the departure of his messengers he had 
set himself to think what was most im- 
possible for any one to conceive of his 
doing, and then, waiting till the day 
agreed on came, he acted as he had de- 
termined. He took a tortoise and a 
lamb, and, cutting them in pieces wdth 
his own hands, boiled them both togeth- 
er in a brazen caldron, covered over 
with a lid which was also of brass." 
(Herodotus, bk. i, chaps. 47, 48.) 
This act of the oracle of Delphi is just 
like some of the work of Spiritism to- 
day. 

We should like to notice some of the 
;LofC. 44 



Is Ancient as Well as Modern. 

oracles of many other nations and peoples, 
but space and time will not allow, and 
therefore be it sufficient to say that all ora- 
cles of heathen and pagan nations were 
about the same, except that some seemed 
to be more attractive than others, and, 
too, there was a difference in giving an- 
swers to those who asked questions. 
They were delivered in verse by some, 
others were pronounced by the medium, 
some were given from the hollow of an 
oak, others by letters sealed up, while 
others by lot, etc. Spiritism seems to 
have existed in some form, or in various 
forms, all along the ages since the fall 
of man — if it did not begin before the 
fall right in the garden of Eden and ac- 
complish the fall of man. In this age 
it appears in various forms, but did not 
appear in its present monopolized form, 
under the name of Spiritualism, until 
45 



Spiritism. 

about 1848, or rather began to develop 
in this form about that time. We are 
informed that knockings began in the 
house of John D. Fox in December , 
1848, and increased in loudness toward 
the end of the following March. John 
D. Fox lived in Arcadia, Wayne Coun- 
ty, N. Y. He had two daughters, 
Margaret and Kate. His daughter Mar- 
garet imitated the rappings by snapping 
her fingers, and it was discovered that 
there were responses to her rappings. 
The rapper was asked the question, 
"Are you a human being?" and there 
was no answer. And then the question 
was asked, "Are you a spirit?" and 
two distinct raps were given. Com- 
munications were established by raps in 
reply to questions, and also by assent to 
letters of the alphabet, so as to spell out 
words. So it was soon discovered that 

46 



Is Ancient as Well as Modern. 

spirits were ready when desired to an- 
swer such questions as they chose to 
answer by raps, through proper me- 
diums, or persons that they recognized 
as suitable mediums. Margaret and 
Kate Fox became excellent mediums. 
It seems the raps were more distinct in 
the presence of Kate Fox. Subsequent- 
ty she was taken to her married sister, 
Mrs. Fish, at Rochester, N. Y., where 
other mediums were found and spirit 
circles were formed. After this Mar- 
garet and Kate visited not only other 
cities of New York, but also cities in 
other States. Mrs. Hayden, an Amer- 
ican medium, excited much public inter- 
est in Spiritualism in London, England, 
in 1852. Robert Owen, founder of 
English Socialism, was converted to 
Spiritualism by her. Daniel D. Home, 
who was born near Edinburgh, Scot- 
47 



Spiritism, 

land, March 20, 1833, was brought 
to the United States in 1840. In 1850 
he was known as a medium, and in 
1855 moved to London, England, where 
he created much stir among the people 
because of his wonderful works. He 
became not only a topic for daily con- 
versation, but also a topic for newspaper 
articles, and subsequently visited Rus- 
sia, Germany, Italy, and France, and 
gave some remarkable manifestations. 
He exhibited before Alexander II., in 
St. Petersburg, and also before Napo- 
leon III., in Paris. 

Spiritism in its present form is not 
satisfied with homes on the different 
continents, but it is establishing itself 
upon the islands of the seas. May God 
grant that its progress shall soon cease, 
and its destruction become a reality im- 
mediately ! Amen . 
48 



Au * 3 i£OT 



JUL 27 1901 



